Feed mechanism



April 7, 1953 w K. WYATT,'JR 2,634,022

FEED MECHANISM Filed Feb. 14, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 IN VENTOR WILLIAM K. WYATT JR.

ATTORNEY April 7, 1953 w. K. WYATT, JR 2,634,022

' FEED MECHANISM Filed Feb. 14, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 44 l 47 I- 44' Q i'ifl I r a 1.1m. Il-

INVENTOR WILLIAM K.WYAT tiy.

By 2 6 a "-43 4 Z l J) ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 7, 19 53 (1 UNITEDL STATE s PATENT OFFICE FEED MECHANISM William Kirk Wyatt, Jr., S ouderton, Pa., assignor to Sharp & Dohme, Incorporated, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Maryland Application February 14, 1951, Serial No. 210,840 7 This invention is concerned with a mechanism 7 for arranging and feeding tablets, cores, pellets,

' plexity of the mechanism and. made easy visual observation diflicult if not impossible.

A feature of this invention is the simplicity of themechanism required and the effective rapid. continuous arranging and feeding resulting from mechanism of the invention. A further feature of the inventionis that it requires only a single cylindrical roll to provide agitation of the contents of the hopper 'in distinction to presently known arranging and feeding means. This is particularly advantageous in that the side of the exit. slot opposite the cylindrical roll can be made of a transparent material providing easy visual inspection of the contents of the exit slot whereby malformed or broken tablets can be observed and measures taken to effect their removal as they issue in the tablet stream from. the channel-way.

A further feature of this invention is the Wheel at the bottom of the exit slot having indentations in the periphery, which indentations cause agitation of the layer of tablets in the exit slot and prevent arching and consequent interruption of feed to the channel-way.

The features of this invention and the operation of the mechanism of thisinvention are more fully'set forth in the following description of the Figure '5 is a section on the line 5--5 in Figure 2.: The mechanism of this invention comprises a hopper and exit slot, a channel-way and operating means.

These operating means are twofold. First,

means is provided to cause agitation of the contents of the hopper causing the tablets to form into a vertical layer in the exit slot. Second,

1 Claim. (Cl. 222-10) means is provided to arrange the tablets in'the; vertical layer into a vertical file in the channelway.

composed of a back plate l2, two side plates 43 and transparent front plate M. The upper portion of the hopper conveniently has a rectangular horizontal cross section. The bottom of the hop per is of wedge shape. This portion of the hopper l I is composed of an angularly displaced lower portion [5 of the back plate 12, and an angularly displaced lower extension 16 of the transparent front plate 14. These two portions l5 and 16 con verge. The sides l-2, the front plate 14, and lower extension l6, and the back plate 12, and lower extension 15 are supported by means of angles 26.-

IS. The axis of shaft I8 is parallel to the line of convergence of the lower portions of the plates [5 and IS. The shaft I8 is rotatable in the two bushings l9 and 2| supported on the two side plates I3. The shaft i8 is powered by an electric motor 23 through an enclosed reduction gear 22. The electric motor, as here shown, is attached to the reduction gear as part thereof andthe reduction gear is bolted to the side plate l3 and separated therefrom by a number. conveniently three, of spacers 24. r y l The converging sides l5 and I6 together with the roll I! comprise the bottom of the hopper. The sides [5 and I6 are sloped so as to direct the pills, tablets or the like in the hopper ll toward and in contact with the surface of the roller I1.

The roller projects into the hopper above the plane of the fore-shortened bottom side [5, thus,

acting upon the contents of the hopper H. The bottom of the hopper is open between the roll H and the side l6 and this opening is the entrance to the exit slot 3|.

The exit slot I3 extends the length of theroller' I1 and is defined by a back plate 32, a front plate 33 and, in its upper portions, by the two side plates l3. As shown here theex'it slot 3| is further defined in one plane by a horizontal knifeedged piece 34 attached to the upper'edge of the back plate 32 which is sopositioned as to position its inner surface as to be tangent to the cylindrical roll ll; 34 can conveniently be integral with the back plate-32 or can be detachable for ease of replacement. The width of the exit slot 3| is only slight- 1y greater than the thickness of the particular article being handled in the mechanism.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the hopper II is It is to be understood that the knife-edge The exit slot 3| provides a space wherein the tablets coming from the hopper II are arranged into a vertical layer, and fed to the channel-way 4|.

The front plate 33 and the back plate 32 are supported by means of the angles 26 which are in turn supported by the side plates l3. The line 29 formed by the intersection of the plates 46 and 33 is positiofidlastdbe :in ahorizontal plane above theaXis of rotation-of the shaft- 8.

The lower portion of the exit slot is V-shaped and is defined by the back plate 32, the front plate 33, the bottom plate 34 and 35 and a wheel 36. The converging bottom plates 34 and 35 are supported between the front plate 33 and the back plate 32 by conventional means. The, .bottom edge 34 is interrupted by a Wheel 36 having an indented periphery. The wheel 36 isfixed to a supporting shaft 39. The shaft 39 pierces the back plate 32 and is powered through an enclosed reduction gear 42 by an electric motor 43. The

motor 43 is fixed'to thered uction; gear 42 which ate length of-theindentations on the wheel 33 is proportional tothe diameter of the tablets being handled. That is, the-larger the tablet being handled the greater'the arc encompassed by the indentation.

The throat3l atthebottom of the exit slot 3| leads'to the'channehway. This throat 31 is defined by the back plate 32, the front plate 33 and the sides 6| and 32. sides-6| and 62 are supported on the back plate 32 The throat 31 is of the same thickness as the exit slot 3| and is of a width only slightly greater than the diameter of the tablet or core being handled. This throat .31 is vertical and leads to the channel way 4 p .The channel-way 4|, as illustrated in Figure 4, isdefined by theback plate 32, two side members 44, and two front members-45. The front members are attached through the side plates 44 and the backplate 32 to a support member 43 which supports the entire channel-way 4| and is in turn attached to the back plate 32 of the exit slot 3 I. The two side members 44 are positioned as to be in vertical alignment with the 4 sides 6| and 62- of the throat 37.- That is, they are separated by a distance onlyslightly greater thanthe diameter of the tablet or core being handled. The side members 44 are of a thickness only slightlygreater than the width of the tablet being handled. The two front members 45 are sopositioned as to leave a slot 41 in the front, providing access to the channel-way 4| in order to afford a means of dislodging any broken or damaged cores or tablets.

Figure 3'is a section view on the line 33 in Figure-,1 andillustrates the channel-way 4| at the throat3l, the wheel 36, its shaft 39, the motor 43, the reduction. gear 42, and the spacers 38, togetherwith the fan 52 which provides cooling for the motor 43.

Figure 5 is a vertical section on theline 5-5 in The front plate, and the Figure 1. It illustrates the cylindrical roll H. the supporting shaft l8, the bushing plate 2| and in the background the motor 43 which powers the wheel 36. Also shown is the vertical front plate 33 and the lower extension of the supporting angle 26. Further, there is illustrated the throat 3'! adjacent to the wheel 36. Each of the electric motors' 23 and 43 are equipped with selfcool-ing fans, 3| and 52 respectively.

In the operation of the mechanism of this invention the tablets, cores, disks, or the like to be arranged and fed are dumped into the hopper H where they exist as a jumbled, disordered mass. The cylindrical roll iii-revolves upwardly with respect -of the line '5- -5 as indicated in Figure 2, causinganagitation of the contents of the hopper. Due to the action of this cylindrical roll and gravity the tablets fall into the exit slot 3| forming a vertical layer. As the tablets in the form of a vertical layer fill the exit slot 3| and especially the lower V-shaped portion thereof defined by the bottom plates 34 and .35 and the front and back -plates-32 and33 they are acted upon by the wheel 36 revolving as indicated in Figure 1, upwardly with respect to the line 33, so as to produce a gentle jostling motion of the contents of the exit slot 3|. This motion prevents any bridging or arching of the tablets and interruption of the flow of tablets-into the throat 31 and thence to the channel-way 4|. Asthetablets one by one enter the throat 31 they fall into the channel-way 4| and thence areconducted to whatever point it is desired to'feed the .tablets.

What isclaimed is:

In a tablet'feeding mechanism, the combination of a hopper having a sloped bottom surface, a single horizontal roll, said roll and the lower edge of sloped bottom surface defining opposite boundaries' of the hopper exit, said sloped bottom surface being angularly upwardly disposed relative to the horizontal plane of the axis of rota tion of said roll so as to direct the hopper contents on to and in contact with said roll, a hopper exit slot the width of which is defined by o'pposits boundaries separated by a distance slightly greater than the tablet being handled, said hopper exit slot having a V-s'haped lower portion, a wheel within said hopper exit slot forming a side wall thereof having an indented periphery, means for constantly rotating said roll and said wheel in one direction so that the portions there- WILLIAM KIRK .WYATT, Jli.

REFERENCES CITED The" following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,750,316 Jonkel et al Mar. 11, 1930 2,284,975 Horner June 2, 1942 2,509,069 Mrachek May 23, 1950 2,561,412

Potter e July 24, 1951 

